Signal device for automobiles.



E. slMPsoN. SIGNAL DEVICE FR AUTOMOBILES.

' APPLICATION HLED NQV. 4| 1915- I Patenled Feb. 6, 1917.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT 01m iicE. nnnnnn' smrson, or imw Yonx, N. Y., Assmnon or ona-miar 'ro v'mmn'm w.

Duncan, or mnonwoon, NEW JEnsEY.

SIGNAL DEVICE FOR AUTOMOBILES.

To all "wlwm it may conce'm:

. Be it known that' I, EDMUND Smrson, a'subject of the King of Great Britain, and residing at New' York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in 'Signal Devices for Automobile's, of which the following is a specification, such as will 'enable those skilled in the art to which it.

l to a following vehicle that said preceding 'vehicle is increasin its speed; a further ob- Speomcatlon of Letters Patent.

ject bein to provi e a slgnal apparatus or device o the class specified, designed particularly to prevent collisionsby one car 26 running into another in crowded cities and i similar places'wherethe speed of the cars is limited and must be controlled; a still further object bein toprovide a signal ap- .paratus or device o the class specified which will indicate 'the speed of a car; and withf these and other objects in view the inven- `tion consists in a device or ap aratus of the class specified, constructed 'an ieratlng as'herei-nafter described and claim -36 'The inventionjs fully di'sclosed in the following specification, of which the accompunying drawin forms a part, in which the separate parts o my improvement are designated by suitable 'reference characters in each of the views, and in which Figura. 1 is a di mmatic view partlally in dotted and partially in full lines, and indicating the method of mounting my 1m-A proved si al a paratus or device in connection with'a c assis or frame of an automobile; 5 v

Fig. 2 a back view of a signal box which I employ;

i Fi 3 a view similar to Fig. 2 but show-T ing t e parts-in a' dilferent 'it-ion; Fig. a a view-similar to 2 hut ;how-

ng; .elglqficatienfshown- 'Fig. Az, or howing of construc- .K5 'a view toIfi 8 but show-l Patenu 1 zb. o, A1917.

Application med November 4, 1915. Serial No. 59,678.

tion shown in Fig. 4 in a different position;

F lg. 6 a sectional front view of the signal box shown in Fig. 2 and'on an enlarged scale and with parts of the constructlon broken away; 00 Fig. 7 a sectional side viewof the signal box as shown in Fig, 6;

Fig. 8 a detail back view of a part ofithe construction of the signal box as shown ih Figtand 5, and on an enlarged scalo;

lg. 9 a partial section on the line 9-9 of 6 and on an enlarged sea le; 4 lg. 10 a detail view of a stoj) si which 1s employed in connection with al of the forms of construction shown; .10

Fig. 11 a sectional detail of a part of the o erative construction'as sh own in Figs.'

6 an 7, and on an enlarged stale;` and,

Fig. 12 a sectional view of details of the i construction shown in Fig. 7 a] 1d on an enlarged Scale. i

In the accompanying drawing, reference being made to Fig. 1, I have indicated at a a part of the rear end ot? the ehassis framevo); an automobile and at b the rear W' or drive axle which pass'es through the usual housing b= intowhich passes the drive shaft b, all this construction being of the usual or well-known form.

In the practice of my 'inventi an, as shown 55 in the drawilng, I mount in 'a "ertical'position, and in' connection with the rear end of thefchassis frame, a signal bo: or casing c which may be connected with siid frame or ,supported in any desired mann er, or which may be built into the body: of 't he' vehicle or therewith, and I al'si` provide' the drive shaft ba with a gear d lv'hich nieshe's i with a pinion d* mounted in a suitable 'support d? through which also passes a flexible 'shaft'' d* on which the piniond' is'secured,

and the flex-ible shaft gl* passes back through the rear end portion of the cha ;sis frame to the bottom ci of theI signal box or "casing '0,

as'clearly shown in. Figs. 1, 6 'i and 11, and 19.0 said flexible sh'aftiseonnected asshown at d in. =with 'thes'haft e ft fy a governor' elf The' nilcmrm' is 'providm l` with a supplcmeta 'shaft'`` which lenteru the shaft e,

w .and the shaft'Yisprov-ided v'ith a pin a* 1.05'

'mamma in a vel-tan' 810: 'fin the sima z, a and the shaft ea is provided 'vith a 'block head e havin a threaded and detachabe cup e" with w ich is connected a vertically i arranged 'rod e', this connection beingmade by a universal joint connection as shown at e, the' rod es being provided with a ball which is held in connection with the block head c by the cap 67. r

Mounted in the bottom portion of the box or casing c and above the operative parts of the governor ez is a horizontal shaft f having pe'rmanent end bearings f2 in which it is secured and which are secured to the sides of the box or casing and on which are wound spiral Springs fa, one end of which is secured' to the said bearings. Mounted on the shaft f between vthe bearings f2 is a sleeve f* between which and said shaft are roller bearings f5 which extend the full length of said sleeve and said sleeve is `provided at its opposite ends with lgrooved Wheels f to which .one end of the Springs fa are secured, andDwound on the Wheels ;W are Wire cords g, the corresponding ends of which are secured to the wheels, fa, and the other ends of which are secured' to one end of'a flexible shutter gz, the other vend ofiwhich is secured to and adapted to be wound on a druin g8 mounted in the top of the -box or casing c and having a central sleeve gfmounted on a shaft g, the end portions 'of whichare securcd in bearings g*z secured to the opposite sides of the box or casing c, and between the sleeve g'4 and the shaft'g5 are' roller bcarings 97, this construc- `,tio"n, including the drum ga, the shaft (/5, the

bearings gG and the rolle-rs gT being exactly the Same as the corresponding parts at the bottom of the box or casing, and including the 'sleeve ft, the roller bearngs and the bearings fz of the shaft f, and being clearly shown in cross section in Fig. 9.

One end of the d-rurn 93 is provided with a small central grooved wheel (f* on which is Wound and to which is securcd a cord h, preferably composed of wire, and one end of which is connected at hz with a lever h* pivoted to a support hf' secured to the back of the box or casing, and above the governor cz, and the other end of which is conv nected with the upper end of the rod csat h.

The support 71,5 in the construction shown is ,Voke-sli-aped in form and connected therewith is a finger piece 71,7 with which is connected a tension spring h8 which is 'also connected with the lever la, and which normally holds said lever in the position shown in Fig. 6. w p

The front of the signal box or casing c is cut out as shown at o and mounted in :said

Fi in casing within the cutout portion o3 is a transparent panel 'i mounted in suitable keepers'z' and rearwardly of the transparent panel z' is another translucent panel is, the outer face of which is provided'with' numerals 8, 6, 9 andw112 arranged as shown in s. 3 and 6, and lwhich are .designed to 'cate miles. i.

Pivotally mounted between the transparent panel i and translucent panel i? and at w the bottom thereof on a shaft which is mounted a translucent plate j on which is marked the word Stop, and the L-shaped frame jz where it is connected with the shaft j is provided with a projecting-melnber j* which operates in connection with a bead or projection jfi on the free edge portion of the shutter gz, and in the position of said shutter gz, as shown in Figs. 2, (i, 7 and 12, the projecting member j* depressed by theI bcad or projection j, and the L-shaped frame j is thrown into the position shown in full lines in said figures, 'and when said shutter 92 is raised, .as hcreinafter described, the L-shaped frame will drop into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 12 by its' is also shown in Fig. 3.

Supported centrally of the back o f the box or casing c is an electric lamp bulb lc, the wires 2.of which extend out through the back of the box or casing, and connected with any suitable source of supply attachcd to the vehicle, and thcoperation of the device will be readily understood from the foregoing,I description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing and the following state1ncnt.

In the position of the parts as'shown .in Figs. 2, G, and T, the vehicle is presumed to be at a standstill in which position the shut tcr (12 is at the limit of its downward move-` nient and in operative connection-withthe L-shaped plate F and 4serves to hold the same in the position shown in said figure',

and as shown in Fig. 2, all that will be seenl on the casing will be the black shutter at the bottoni of which will appear tliewoi'd stundstill.

ln the movcmcnt of the vehicle, the rotation of the drive shaft If* will operatethe govcrnor shaft o throi'igh the tlexibleshaft d* and in proportion to the speed of the ve- .hicle tln` shutter (12 will rise by means of the operation of the governor ez. A slidingr sleeve cl" of the governor operat'cs in conncction with the pin 1:* on the shaft'c3 and y-ois -'b` top`* indicating that the vehicle is at a' raises said shaft including the block head c and rod a* which in turn opcratcs'the let ver hi* pulling` the cord /L downwardly and i'otating the drum y so as to raise the shutter (12 and indicate the speed of the' vehicle nated by numeralsi, G, 9 and 12.

The -inoveinent of a vehicle on the crowded i determine whether a preceding-vehicle is which, as shown `in`l `igs. 3 and (5, is desig- Ill increasing or deereasing in speed and thereM by regulate the speed of his` vehicle, and this also will enable chanfeurs to make Lg;ii'eater headway due to the fact that ino time will be lost to detcri'nine, whether or not, the preceding vehicle intends to decrease its speed, stop, or inci'eruie its speed.n

In Figs. t, 5' and. 8, I have shown a modified form of means for indieating the inoveinent of the vehicle, ;in which orin of construction the tral'islucent panel may oi' magr not he employed, and if employed the nuni 6, S) and 15) will. not appear there and th slnitter (/2 instead of being provide With the Wire cords (1 is" extended and passed around and secured to a drum m similar to the drnln (/3, and it will be understood that, in this construction, the grooved Wheels f*i are not eniployed. The shutter gz, in this form of constii'uction, is provided with two trans lucent strips 'a and a being in the form of arroi'vs 'n13 and fat, and the arrow a*` directed (hinvnivai'dly While the arrow of* is d.i--

rected npivardly.

The position shown in Fig. 4.' corresponds -to that shown in Fig. E2 in which the point of the arrow 71,3 is directly above the Lg shaped france carrying the translncent plate in 'which position the head of the arrow a* is (Lhrcctl'y back of said. translucent plate j, and the light fron'l the electric lamp bull) Ii: passes through the trainslncent strip a, or the head portion of the arrow a* so to illuminate the said plate' ja. The 'position of the parts shown in Figi. h correM sponds to that vn in Fig. 3 and indicates that the vehicle is traveling at a high speed,

` this modification will operate to produce the same result that shown in Figs 2 and, 3, and other changes in and niodifications of the various details of the construction herein shown and (ileserihed, may he made, Within the scope of the appended claims, Without dcparting from the spirit of niy invention or sacrificing its advantages.

Having; fully -descrihed niy inveiiition, what T claini as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:---

1. In a device of the class descrihed, a suitable iasing, a sl'nitter Inonnted therein, lin-ems mounteifll in said casing and in. operative connection with the dri'vii'ig n'ieclianisin of a 'vehicle for Operating ,said shutter, a stop indicating device mounted in said casing and means connected W`i1h said shntter ior Operating said stop indioiting device.

2. In a speed signal device for Vehicles, a suitable casing the front of which is provided With an apertnre, a tra isparent panel mounted in said aperture, a llexible shutter, a drum mounted in the top of said casing and With which one end of `;aid shutter is connected the other end of which is connected 'with a. similar drnrr mounted adjacent to the hottom of said casing, a governor inonnted in the bottom of said casing and in. operative connection vith said drurn, means in operative connectior` With the driving niechanism of a vehicle for Operating said governor to operatc Sai 1:1 shutter, and means Wherehy the operation of said shutter Will operate a Stop lindicai ing device.

In a speed signalzdevice for Vehicles, a suitable casing the front of which is pro' vided With an aperture, a transparent panel mounted in said apertnre, a translucent panei inoonted rearwardly f said transparent panei and on which is arranged numerals indicating miles, a 'lexihle shutter mounted in said csing 'and between said transparent and translucent panels, means in operative connection with the driving mechanisin of a vehicle for operatin said Shutter in the movement of said vehicle so as to indicate the speed thereof, and means for indicating when said T'ehicle is at a standstill.

In a speed signal devici for Vehicles, a suitahly supported flexible `ihutter, a governor :in opeli'ative connection with said shutter, means in operative connection with the driving inechanism of a vehicle for operating said governm, and a dev ice operated by said shutter for indicating tiat a vehicle is at a standstill.

In testimony that I clain the foregoing as my invention I have sign ed my name in presence of the subscrihing witnesses this ist day of November, 1915.

EDMUN SIMPSON.

iVitnesses MoraieANY, H. i". TnoMPsoN. 

